Police warn parents about 'pot candy'

Parents are being urged to be on the lookout for a deceiving piece of candy. It's called weed candy, and police are concerned that it could be laced with more than marijuana.

It is an emerging trend in the world of illegal drugs, and they call it "pot candy" or "weed candy."

"The individuals will grind down the marijuana, and they will mix that with vegetable oil. And then they will strain it and take the extract and mix it with corn syrup and sugar and form little candies," said Upper Merion Police Detective Andrew Rathfon.

Rathfon says he has heard about "pot candy" from law enforcement officials in the western United States, but this is the first time he has seen it in our region.

Rathfon says he was given the candies by a suspicious mother who wanted them tested.

Those tests came back positive for marijuana.

Authorities say what makes these candies particularly dangerous is that there is no telling if they might be laced with other drugs or toxic chemicals.

"This isn't a product that is approved by the FDA or produced in a laboratory. It is produced in someone's home. You are trusting whoever made that substance, and then you are ingesting it. To me that is frightening. It's scary," said Detective Rathfon.

"It's something that can easily be concealed, something that can be taken into a school; something that a parent might see lying around the house and not know what it is, because it looks like rock candy," he said.

Action News spoke with some local parents who say that this is something else to add that to the list of things to be concerned about.

"Between car seats and what's breaking and what they are putting in their mouths, there is just so much we never used to worry about when we were kids, and our parents never worried about when we were kids," said Jeanine Matuza.

"It kind of seems no matter how hard we try to keep them safe, someone comes up with a new idea especially if it has something to do with candy. You wouldn't even suspect that as a parent," said Jennifer Spade.

Any parents should like for unwrapped or re-wrapped candies that look like Jolly Ranchers.